Guardian 26,921 – Rufus

Mon June 27, 2016 at 11:29 amMon June 27, 2016 at 7:00 am by Andrew

I rattled through the top half of this very quickly, but for some reason took a little longer on the bottom. Some rather weak clues in my opinion, so not greatly to my taste, but it’s fairly standard Rufus fare for those that like that sort of thing, as I know many do.

Across
1.	ANDALUSIA	Region that’s Spanish and American, inter alia (9) AND + US in ALIA
6.	MOAS	Moment when these birds became extinct (4) MO AS
8.	ZERO HOUR	It’s when to start, but nothing’s on time (4,4) ZERO + HOUR
9.	RESUME	Right to sue me, perhaps, so start again (6) R + (SUE ME)*
10.	WATERY	Thin and pale, we try a doctor (6) (WE TRY A)*
11.	APPRAISE	Value a quiet compliment (8) A + P + PRAISE
12.	AFFECT	Pretend to influence (6) Double definition
15.	TAILSPIN	Confusion that doesn’t have one’s head in a whirl (8) Cryptic definition
16.	SUBPOENA	Prepared bean soup served by a court officer (8) (BEAN SOUP)*
19.	DATING	Saying when? (6) Cryptic definition
21.	IDOLATRY	Dilatory sort of hero worship (8) DILATORY*
22.	EUNICE	She‘s seen in a classy French resort at end of June (6) [Jun]E + U (classy) + NICE
24.	MIRAGE	Motorway fury at illusory prospect of refreshment (6) M1 + RAGE
25.	MARZIPAN	Result of having a crush on sugared almonds (8) Cryptic definition
26.	AGUE	A complaint I’d not put in a guide (4) A GUIDE less I’D
27.	TOLERANCE	Play patience (9) Double definition
Down
1.	ARENA	Engagement ring from one who will care, naturally (5) Hidden in cARE NAturally, with a cryptic defintion – a ring where e.g. gladiators “engage”
2.	DIOCESE	See a bishop’s concern (7) Double definition, or rather the same definition twice
3.	LOONY	Look round New York — it’s crazy! (5) LO + O + NY
4.	SERVANT	He may have to wait for his money (7) Cryptic definition
5.	ATROPHIED	A drink knocked over ran away swiftly — wasted (9) A + reverse of PORT + HIED
6.	MISLAYS	Forgets my sails may be badly rigged (7) (MY SAILS)*
7.	ADMISSION	Leave to enter guilty plea? (9) Double definition
13.	FOUNDLING	Abandoned type petting outside university (9) U in FONDLING
14.	TREATMENT	Nursing management (9) Double definition (just about)
17.	PALE ALE	A drink or two on the quiet (4,3) P + ALE + ALE
18.	ABYSMAL	Lamb, say, is perhaps unfathomable (7) (LAMB SAY)*
20.	TENSION	Stress? One isn’t affected (7) (ONE ISN’T)*
22.	ERROR	Fear head chopped off in mistake (5) TERROR less its first letter
23.	CHASE	Do impressive work as a huntsman? (5) Definition + a hint – to chase is to “decorate metal by engraving”

25 comments on “Guardian 26,921 – Rufus”

muffin

#1 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 08:31

Thanks Rufus and Andrew
This took a bit longer than a typical Rufus, but there were typical Rufus moments when I entered an answer thinking “it might be that”. In fact, my STEWARD for 4d turned out to be “but it isn’t”.
I did like the nicely concealed definition and answer for ARENA.
beery hiker

#2 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 08:42

All pretty straightforward as one would expect from Rufus, with one or two nice clues. PALE ALE was last in.

Thanks to Andrew and Rufus
Cookie

#3 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 11:23

Thank you Rufus and Andrew.

Great to have Rufus back. I love sugared almonds, but try to resiqst them, so first looked for another word for “caries” to enter at 25a.

Like muffin @1, ARENA was my favourite clue, and last in was PALE ALE, as for beery hiker @2.

This blog is not posted in the Archive.
beery hiker

#4 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 11:27

I think what Cookie @3 means is that this blog is showing as Uncategorized, not Guardian
Gaufrid

#5 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 11:31

Thanks for pointing out the error, category now corrected.
Julie in Australia

#6 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 11:55

Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.

Favourite was 15a TAILSPIN.

Last ones in 22a EUNICE and 23d CHASE.
troilus

#7 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 14:04

Ref Arena: where is the containment indicator?
brucew@aus

#8 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 14:05

Thanks Rufus and Andrew

Same as Julie …
troilus

#9 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 14:06

Is it “engAgement ring”
muffin

#10 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 14:10

Troilus @7 and 9
“from”
William

#11 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 14:25

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you Andrew.

As you say, pretty standard Rufusian fare – most of which I enjoyed but have a couple of questions…

I don’t quite see the ‘leave’ = ADMISSION thing at 7d, and,

Although it’s perfectly getable, how does the MARZIPAN clue work?

Thought TOLERANCE was neat.

Nice week, all.
Tyngewick

#12 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 15:10

I had some difficulty in equating ‘abysmal’ and ‘unfathomable’ but OED seems to think it is OK.

Thanks both.
Cookie

#13 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 15:18

William @11, I think it is “leave to enter” = ADMISSION, think of “permission to enter”. MARZIPAN is made by crushing sugar and almonds together, or “sugared almonds”, I think that that is all there is to the clue.
ACD

#14 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 15:20

Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. I paused for a bit before getting TAILSPIN and DATING but then realized it was a Rufus puzzle. AGUE was last in. No surprises here and fun.
Peter Aspinwall

#15 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 17:11

Definitely a puzzle of two halves. The top half was quite a standard Rufus with some nice clubbing-ARENA,ATROPHIED,MOAS. But the bottom half was more difficult. I don’t understand MARZIPAN, which,along with CHASE, I had to guess. I now see the latter-thanks-but the former? Is it even cryptic?
Still,thanks Rufus.
jennyk

#16 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 17:47

A typical Rufus, I think. Yes, a fairly quick solve, but I enjoyed it. Thanks, Rufus and Andrew.

Peter Aspinwall @15
I think MARZIPAN counts as cryptic as it isn’t a literal definition. You are (mis)directed to think of the sweets and you don’t make marzipan by actually crushing sugared almonds. Apart from anything else, the proportions would be wrong.
bill_taylor

#17 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 18:21

Here’s a much better example of a Quiptic!
RCWhiting

#18 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 19:39

Thanks all
Arena definition??
Tailspin= confusion??
BNTO

#19 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 19:56

RCW @18

Arena definition is “Engagement ring”

SOED has

tailspin noun & verb

a noun a spin by an aircraft with the tail spiralling; fig. a state of chaos, panic, or loss of control;
b verb intrans. perform or go into a tailspin;
Nm

#20 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 21:02

How does ‘U’ work as classy?
muffin

#21 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 21:13

Nm @20
U and non-U – was it one of the Mitfords?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
Meg

#22 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 22:24

Nancy Mitford. U = upper class.
William

#23 - Mon 27th Jun 16, 23:10

Muffin @21 Finally. Often wondered about that. Many thanks.
Hamish

#24 - Fri 1st Jul 16, 07:43

Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

Rufus back to standard form here with some fairly weak double/cryptic definitions such as 15, 19 and 14 and a curved ball that caught me out first time through – at 22ac I entered JANICE (J = “end of June” – Rufus didn’t say which end + A + NICE = “a classy French resort” – which is certainly classier than some I can think of). I soon changed that when I saw 22dn!

But there are always some nice nuggets such as the definition for ARENA and the anagram fodder for SUBPOENA.

So always worth the effort.
michelle

#25 - Tue 12th Jul 16, 08:40

I really enjoyed this. My favourites were PALE ALE, FOUNDLING, ATROPHIED, TAILSPIN

I have never heard of the play Tolerance

Thank you Rufus and Andrew

Comments are closed.